All posts authored by Santino Zhakata
Zaion-Horn of Africa restaurant and bar opens in UmeåOne of the most pleasant ways of opening up to a new culture is by trying its food. Specific dishes , how they are prepared, served and eaten can say a lot about a culture. A good friend of mine, Mike, originally from Eritrea, has decided to open an Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurant in Umeå. I am very proud of him. Mike is my first friend since I moved to Sweden six years ago, and surprisingly, the only friend I have in a 150km radius. Gosh!, How terrible or rather sad, that must sound. My experince of Sweden has made me believe that making friends is not as easy as I had always found before moving here. I believe that while I generaly regard swedes as very friendly people, being friendly is not the same as being easy to become friends with. More on this in another post, but for now lets celebrate cultural diversity . We have all heard talk about the world becoming a global village or about the shrinking of time and space due to technology. This assumption provas itself in many ways. I am certainly not a guru in world history, but I have a pretty good feeling that events in the modern age we are living right now have made it possible for a lot of cultures to intersect and criss cross in so many ways. One good example is music. Songs like Gangnam style have gone triple viral, even though most of its lovers, me included, have no idea what the song is talking about. Another strong example of this cultural crossroads is food. In the tiny city I live in, I have the option of eating chinese food at the Great Eastern chinese restaurant and different tea and coffee from far and wide at Bhudda´s Coffee rosters. In Umeå, about 130km away, my options would include Indian, Italian, Lebanese, French restaurants. Later this week, a good friend of mine Mike, is opening his very own restaurant called Zaion Horn of Africa restaurant and bar, specialising in Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine. Since meeting Mike, who apparently has lived in my home country, Zimbabwe for a lot of years and can speak my mother tongue, I have had the pleasure of eating Eritrean food, which I had never done before. It is delicious, varied and very true to the traditions of the country. Eritrean coffee is superb and strong. Apart from the food being great and the owner being dear, this opening of the restaurant gave me a chance to do what I love, I created a functional website for the restaurant and this will be the face of the restaurant online. I find it fun and challenging and I welcome it as an experience to better my skills at this. As if this was not exciting enough, Zaion will also serve sadza, the stapel food of Zimbabwe. The Official opening of the restaurant will be on Friday and Saturday (2-3 November) and I have booked a table there. I wouldn´t miss it for the world. I plan to enjoy the food and to take great fotade for the restaurangs website, blog and social media platforms. I am going to enjoy this. All are welcome this weekend, See you at Zaion in Umeå. I find it fun and challenging and I welcome it as an experience to better my skills at this. As if this was not exciting enough, Zaion will also serve sadza, the stapel food of Zimbabwe. The Official opening of the restaurant will be on Friday and Saturday (2-3 November) and I have booked a table there. I wouldn´t miss it for the world. I plan to enjoy the food and to take great footage for the restaurant´s website, blog and social media platforms. I am going to enjoy this. All are welcome this weekend, See you at Zaion in Umeå. © Santino Zhakata 2011
1 Comment
Tafadzwa Mupfawa
11/2/2018 13:38:13
So proud of you Santino and also for your friend Mike. Great stuff. Its a small BIG world indeed. What are the oddds of meeting someone from Eritrea who speaks Shona in small town Sweden? I mean, isn't that quite something to write home about. Have fun with the food and the media stuff...Good for you. Soon I would be consulting you to develop a website for Takapona. Watch this space.
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AUTHORI am Santino Zhakata, born in Zimbabwe, living in Sweden. I do a lot of writing, photography , blogging and website creation for fun and for profit. My fields of expertise include teaching and tutoring English via distance or face to face. I also specialise in communication for development. Welcome to my blog, feel free to share your thoughts.
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